Tiles industry expected to grow 6-9% in current fiscal

Kolkata, July 24 ( IANS) With the rolling-out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and anticipated boost in the housing sector, the tiles industry is expected to grow by 6-9 per cent in the current fiscal, a top industry player said here on Monday.

“The tiles industry size is about Rs 26,500 crore and in other words, it is at 865 million square metres. The industry is expected to grow by 6-9 per cent in this year,” Kajaria Ceramics Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Kajaria said at the launch of its largest showroom here.

Affordable housing boom, Smart City and Swachh Bharat programmes and GST implementation are expected to boost the demand in tge industry, he said.

Kajaria also said the tiles industry had grown by 3-5 per cent in the last fiscal due to a muted market.

“GST is win-win for the industry. The incidence of tax, prior to GST, was varying between 28 per cent to 31.5 percent depending on the states’ VAT. Now, it comes down to 28 per cent, which will be beneficial for the industry,” he said.

Of the total industry, unorganised sector is contributing to 60 per cent and some of the unorganised players work with organised players. As a result of it, the break-up is 50:50, he said adding that the industry is likely to move towards organised segment with the implementation of GST.

The ceramic tiles segment is of 55 per cent of the total industry size while vitrified tiles segment has 45 per cent share, he added.